The Last Harvester

Chapter Four

“Victor!” Duncan shouted. Tears began to well in his eyes and he could feel the anger rushing in his chest and cheeks. His whole body warmed up as he felt nothing but rage boil inside him. He then looked up and realized he was just a few feet away from the ogre’s eye. 

“You’re mine,” Duncan whispered as he climbed up to stand atop his sword. He then reached up and grabbed onto the ogre’s eyelid. The monster retaliated, again attempting to swipe him down. Before the giant hand could strike, Duncan slashed again with his sword and tore through the ogre’s exposed eye. Water and blood exploded all over him and then he felt a heavy impact. The hand had struck and Duncan was thrown down. 

Fortunately, he crashed into a small cluster of trees that broke his fall. As he landed on the dirt, he felt a few broken ribs and a sprain in his left ankle. 

He then turned to look for Valerie. “There’s… there’s nothing more for me to do. I can’t move. It’s all up to you now, sister.”

Valerie, who stood beside the cart and the explosive, faced her brother. “Don’t worry, we’ve rigged this to take the ogre out and block the entrance.”

“Good luck,” Duncan replied.

Valerie nodded and assigned two soldiers to go with her. Both started pulling on the cart, taking it as close to the ogre as they could. The monster was already in position. Despite losing Victor, Duncan took in the satisfaction that they achieved their goal of pushing the ogre far back enough for Valerie’s team.

Duncan could only watch as his sister and her men approached. They attacked from the ogre’s blind side, ensuring that it wouldn’t see them as they pulled the bomb into position. Only a few moments had passed but with each lingering second posing enormous threats to their safety, it felt like an eternity. Duncan observed with a sense of dread and panic rising in his chest.

The ogre moved. It slammed a foot down and crushed one of Valerie’s men before he could even look up. It then kicked and nearly broke Valerie’s neck. The girl was able to duck in time but her remaining soldier was not as lucky. The ogre’s foot slammed against the soldier’s chest and the impact was strong enough to rip his body in half. It was held together only by the plate armor that he wore. The bloody body tumbled down the street and a band of crystal beasts began feasting on it.

“Valerie, get out of there!” Duncan shouted. He then turned to one remaining soldier in the vicinity. “Get in there! The princess is alone. You have to aid her!”

The soldier didn’t move. He faced Duncan and took off his helmet. To Duncan’s surprise, the soldier was just a kid, barely over sixteen or seventeen years old. He was trembling in fear and Duncan could see tears welling in the boy’s eyes.

“I know you’re scared,” Duncan told the boy. “I know you probably didn’t even dream of fighting crystal beasts or a crystal ogre such as this one. You’re not a Harvester, after all. I’m not even sure if you really wanted to be a soldier fighting for us against the Imperials… but look, this is the situation we’re in right now. You can panic and run away but that won’t stop the ogre or those crystal beasts. If we don’t block that gate, more monsters will come in. More people will die. Once they’re done, the Imperials will march right in and take over our destroyed city. There won’t be any place left for you to run.”

The boy pointed to the ogre. “Your Highness… forgive me for my cowardice… but how are we supposed to fight that? I didn’t sign up for this!”

Duncan answered by pointing to his sister, who was still positioning the cart to get it right underneath the ogre. “There’s the solution. The princess rigged an explosive device that should stop the ogre and slow down the invasion. It won’t stop all of them but it’ll buy our soldiers enough time to take out the ones already in the city. We can’t allow more of these monsters to breach through.”

The soldier turned to observe Valerie. 

“That’s your princess,” Duncan told the boy. “Kid, what’s your name?”

“I-it’s Jorgen, Your Highness.”

“Jorgen,” Duncan sighed and he looked at the soldier sternly. “You and I are not going to make it out of here alive. We’re dead men walking as it is. Imperials are already in the city. Monsters are everywhere. Whether we stop this ogre or not, we’re as good as dead. I’m not going to die without a fight, though. I won’t let my life become a useless figment in the pages of history. Don’t die a meaningless death, kid.”

Jorgen looked up at the ogre. He wiped his tears with a brush of his arm and nodded. “There’s really no other way out, is there?”

“There isn’t,” Duncan confirmed. “I wish there was, kid. I don’t want to die. Nobody does. But we will anyway. I just lost my friend down there. I lost several men too. Look at me now; I’ll die as soon as some of those monsters spot me. I can’t get up to run or fight.”

The young soldier looked around. There were bodies and burning buildings wherever he turned. There were Imperial soldiers too. Though some were helping, others were taking advantage of the situation and were killing as many Fildebrand soldiers as they could. Some were setting homes on fire. None of the civilians retaliated, however, and no one took out their anger on the Imperials. Instead, Duncan noticed that his people tried to help the Imperial refugees despite it all.

“What do I have to do?” Jorgen asked, his gaze fixed on the ogre. 

“Get down there and help my sister detonate that bomb,” Duncan replied.

Jorgen nodded and faced Duncan one last time. “Thank you, Your Highness. You’ve reminded me of my purpose. I didn’t become a soldier to kill Imperials… that wasn’t what I wanted. I’m not a killer… joined to protect our nation and our people.”

“I’m sorry that it all led to this,” Duncan told the boy.

Jorgen smirked. “It was always going down this path. I guess you can say that’s the life of a soldier. Thank you for reminding me of that.”

The young boy then gave Duncan one last nod of acknowledgment and then ran down to meet up with the princess. Jorgen quickly dodged several of the ogre’s wide swings and got to Valerie just in time as a swarm of crystal beasts pounced to attack. 

“They’re outnumbered,” Duncan realized. There had to be a way to stop those beasts. Valerie needed a little bit more time.

Duncan leaned on the wall and try to get up. However, the pain in his ankle, knees, and ribs pulsated throughout his body. “Damn it!”

He looked down and saw that even more monsters were swarming around Valerie and Jorgen. Desperate, Duncan looked for more soldiers but to his horror, everyone around him was dead. Everything was on fire. 

“Hey!” he screamed. “Over here, you ugly lizards! Do you want a meal? Take a bite out of me!”

Several of the monsters looked up. They roared back but then they geared their attention back to Valerie and Jorgen. 

“No! Over here, you lousy scales!” Duncan screamed back. He grabbed his sword and flung it towards the monsters. It barely got halfway there and clattered uselessly on the street. The sound was enough of a distraction, however, for the ogre to jerk its head in that direction. Due to its blind eye, it had to lean in closer to get a better look.

That’s when Valerie tugged on the device in the cart.

“Wait, no, you have to get out of there first!” Duncan yelled. 

Valerie smiled back at him. Beside her, Jorgen slashed down another crystal beast trying to attack. That was the moment Duncan figured out that Valerie never intended to walk out of this fight alive. She always intended to detonate the bomb with her in the vicinity. No one else could handle it. Only she knew how it worked, after all.

The ogre leaned in even closer to the ground and sniffed at Duncan’s blade. To his surprise, it focused on the sword. Perhaps it was the scent of its blood on the blade or the fact that it made a loud sound when it clattered on the ground. Duncan wasn’t sure but the ogre’s head and body blocked his view. He couldn’t see Valerie and Jorgen but he could hear the sound of multiple monsters roaring and attacking. He could hear the slashing and the whipping sound of a sword slicing through flesh.

“Valerie! Run!” was all Duncan could shout before he heard a loud click and saw a sudden flash of light. In the blink of an eye, there was a loud roar and everything around him was engulfed in a raging bright fire. The blast pushed him several feet back and the last thing Duncan saw was the ogre’s head exploding into bloody oblivion, right before Duncan hit the ground and the world blacked out.